"What state do you live in?" "What do you look like?" Texts sent to a 14-year-old girl's cell phone - a stranger in pursuit of personal information. and within minutes, the conversation takes a graphic turn. "They were asking sexual questions, asking for pictures." "I'm scrolling through this and I'm like, oh my gosh, like oh my gosh, who is this person?" This Denver mom, who doesn't want to be identified, says it happened to her daughter. "This mom monitored her daughter's online activity, and she checked her cell phone. But her daughter was using a texting app that mom wasn't looking for." "Parents aren't aware of them, and so kids are using those applications to communicate in a manner that their parents will never ever know about because most parents don't go through every single app." detective Mike Harris, with the Jefferson County DA's office, focuses on internet crimes against children. He's concerned about these texting apps. "a lot of kids post too much personal information." He says the most popular apps are: text free, text now and text plus. Members who use these apps can chat with each other and that's how a criminal can get access to your child. harris says it's not uncommon for predators to ask for naked pictures and then it escalates from there. "Naked pictures are the fuel that gives the predator their stimuli until they can actually meet that live child." This mom learned of her daughter's texting activity by accident. She caught it early, but says her daughter is still shaken.

It's a conversation she hopes every parent and child will have. There are several others out there. There's also an app for parents, called my "mobile watchdog," that can help you track your child's cell phone and texting activity. The texting app companies say they are taking steps to protect users.